Summary

Section 1. The novel begins with July entering the hut that previously belonged to his mother, to bring the Smales their morning tea. Maureen Smales, the daughter of a mine shift boss, had slept in mud huts before, but only for leisurely family vacations. She expresses her disbelief that Bamford Smales, an architect, and Maureen Smales, born Maureen Hetherington of the Western Area Gold Mines, now call a mud hut in a village in rural South Africa home. Her three children sleep on seats removed from their car.

She lies on the rusted bed covered with a tarp from the car and her memories take her from the present to her childhood. She recalls her childhood bedroom she enjoyed all to herself and her school shoes being cleaned by their servant, Jim.

The pleasant memories do not last long as she returns to the present and...